Protein causes a glycemic response

Abstract

The glycemic index is used to compare the extent to which the blood glucose level increases following the consumption of foods containing digestible carbohydrate and is considered to be zero, or not measurable, if the food, such as protein, is carbohydrate- free. We have found that after overnight fasting, the consumption of several varieties of meat caused significant increases in blood glucose levels. We consider these possibly to be because of gluconeogenesis from the digested protein. It is a curious feature that in two instances the response was inversely related to the amount of meat consumed, over the range from 26 to 78 g of protein. © 2010 IUBMB.